High Court Declines Tax Case

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal seeking to exempt an out-of-state business from income and franchises taxes in West Virginia.

MBNA, the credit card unit of Bank of America, had no physical presence in the state. An appeals court ruled it was nonetheless subject to the taxes, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A prior U.S. Supreme Court ruling said the commerce clause bars states from imposing sales and use taxes on businesses without a physical presence there. West Virginia had argued the ruling did not apply to the kind of taxes it collected from MBNA.